Taking Care of Business : A Study of the Governing of Care Choice Systems in Swedish Home Care

This study provides an account of the introduction of care choice systems into the provision of home care by Swedish municipalities. Care choice systems in elder care are at the centre of a conflict about the broader principles of the welfare state. Studying them is thus a way of revealing the outlines of this conflict. In this thesis, I show how the introduction of care choice systems changes the nature of public administration, the strategies officials deploy, and the tools they use. This helps to deepen the understanding of how quasi- market reforms transform public administration at the municipal level, while providing insight into the legal strategies used by public authorities in governing welfare. The thesis also provides new insights into how parts of the Swedish model have evolved during the last decade.